Earlier today (March 7, 2019), the U.S. Department of Labor announced new proposed regulations (.pdf) that would increase the minimum salary for employees to qualify for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act to $679 per week, equivalent to $35,308 per year. This is an increase from the current minimum of … Continue Reading
As mentioned previously here last summer, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division has brought back the Opinion Letter, the process previously used by attorneys and HR professionals to obtain guidance from the WHD. The DOL dropped the practice in 2010, but it has since been reinstated. Yesterday, on April 12, 2018, the … Continue Reading
You may have read about the U.S. Department of Labor’s new “Payroll Audit Independent Determination” or “PAID’’ pilot program. Under this program, the DOL invites employers to voluntarily audit their payroll practices and disclose any “non-compliant practices” to the DOL. The DOL then reviews the employer’s records and calculations of what is owed to employees, … Continue Reading
There’s been plenty of press this week regarding the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rules governing employer treatment of tips. Commentators are debating whether the proposed changes are a sensible return to the four corners of the Fair Labor Standards Act or a cash-grab for the restaurant industry at the expense of workers. We’ll leave … Continue Reading
As my colleague Bill Pokorny reported back on August 31, a Texas District Court struck down the Obama Administration’s FLSA Overtime Exemption Rule, holding that the Department of Labor (DOL) exceeded its authority by increasing the minimum salary for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemptions to $913 per week. In a (somewhat) surprise move, on October … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced today that it is bringing back the WHD Opinion Letter. Opinion letters have long been one of the most useful resources for lawyers and HR professionals trying to figure out how to comply with the laws enforced by the WHD, including the Fair Labor Standards Act … Continue Reading
On June 7, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced the withdrawal of two Administrator Interpretations (“AIs”) issued under the Obama administration regarding joint employment and independent contractors. We previously discussed the AI on independent contractors here, and the AI on joint employment here and here. Critics of the AIs argued that they amounted to an … Continue Reading
As we have reported over the last couple of months, there have been recent attempts by business groups and states to block the U.S. DOL’s new overtime exemption rule from taking effect on December 1, 2016. Despite these efforts, no court has yet to issue any ruling. With just 30 days to go, employers should … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill, H.R. 6094 (the “bill” referred to as the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools and Nonprofits Act), that would delay the effective date of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule by 6 months, from December 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017. The Vote passed … Continue Reading
Yesterday, a group of 21 states filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule, which is set to take effect on December 1, 2016. The group challenging the rule is led by Texas and Nevada, and includes the following states: Alabama, Arizona, … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro case, that many hoped would resolve the issue as to whether Service Advisors at auto dealerships are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As we reported back in January 2016, the Supreme … Continue Reading
Just a few weeks ago, we posted our latest update on the Department of Labor’s proposed new overtime rule, which calls for a more than doubling of the salary level threshold for white collar exempt positions. At that time, we reported on the House Education and Workforce Committee’s renewed inquiry into the DOL’s outreach efforts, … Continue Reading
Since June, we have written a number of posts covering the Department of Labor’s proposed new overtime rule (see our posts here), and the more than doubling of the salary level threshold for white collar exempt positions. The proposed increase in the salary threshold was quite polarizing and resulted in nearly 300,000 comments. Despite the … Continue Reading
As we reported back in October 2015 a car dealership, Encino Motorcars, petitioned the Supreme Court to “restore uniformity” to the enforcement of legal precedent and hold that service advisors are exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements. On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and hopefully resolve the issue once and for all … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) has once again weighed in on employer use of confidentiality and non-disparagement language, this time in the settlement arena. Recently, the NLRB withheld its approval of a global settlement of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claims and Board charges, stating its objection to the negotiated non-disparagement … Continue Reading
Waiting is the hardest part. Ever since the Department of Labor issued its proposal to substantially increase the minimum salary level needed to classify an employee as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee, employers have been asking when the new rules will take effect. This is not an academic question: many organizations have long … Continue Reading
We recently received a question regarding whether an employer could classify certain IT employees as exempt under the Computer Employee exemption. With the long-awaited final DOL overtime rules for the white collar exemptions yet to make their appearance, we thought this would be a good opportunity to switch gears and remind you of the general … Continue Reading
In an interesting turn of events and what I’m sure will be gratifying for some employers, the Department of Labor has agreed to pay Gate Guard Services $1.5 million to settle claims involving the DOL’s overly aggressive and bad faith tactics in investigating whether Gate Guard’s gate attendants were improperly classified as independent contractors under … Continue Reading
Agencies and other third-party employers of live-in household employees and home companionship providers, take note: the long-delayed regulations reclassifying many of these workers as non-exempt employees entitled to minimum wage and overtime under the FLSA are now in effect. Since 1974, the FLSA has included an exemption for certain categories of domestic service workers, including … Continue Reading
Last week, we reminded you that the public comment period on the DOL’s proposed changes to the FLSA white collar exemptions was going to end on Friday, September 4, 2015, and the DOL was not going to extend this comment period despite requests to do so. True to its word, the public comment period came … Continue Reading
In July, we wrote about the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the regulations governing the white collar exemptions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The current regulations governing these exemptions—executive, administrative, and professional—include a salary basis test by which to determine if an employee meets one of these exemptions. The salary basis test currently … Continue Reading
Thanks to all of our clients and friends for such a great turnout at today’s webinar on the new DOL overtime exemption rules and the Administrator’s Interpretation on independent contractors. In case you missed the webinar, or if you just want to go back and review the materials and recording, you can find both an … Continue Reading
The DOL continues to deliver on the promise of its busy summer. This morning, Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Administrator Dr. David Weil announced a new, 15-page Administrator’s Interpretation in a DOL blog post that stressed the FLSA’s expansive definition of employment and reinforced the WHD’s position that most workers qualify as … Continue Reading
We have been covering the Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division’s (WHD) finally released proposal to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was published last week. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is lengthy, clocking in at 295 pages, nearly all of which (285+) constitute a preamble. Those 295 pages have plenty … Continue Reading
